MCGRAW-HILL’S ESSENTIAL ESL Grammar PDF - Web Education

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ESL

Grammar

A Handbook for Intermediate and Advanced ESL Students

MARK LESTER, PH.D.

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iii

v This book is for nonnative speakers of English who have already attained extensive ﬂ uency in classroom English. It is designed to help you move to the next level of functioning comfortably in a fully English-speaking environment. For example, your job may take you to an English-speaking country, or your duties may require you to interact extensively with native English speakers in person, on the telephone, or on the Internet.

Even though the book includes many topics covered in other ESL books, it is not a textbook. It is an advanced-level reference work designed to give you instant access to detailed information about speciﬁ c topics that you need to know and apply now. Each section of the book is a self-contained module. Unlike with a textbook, you do not need to start on page 1. Just use the table of contents or the index to locate the topic you need, and then go right to it.

The most important feature of this book is the immense amount of information about English grammar in general and about four specifi c areas of English grammar that are most likely to cause diffi culties: • Areas of unusual grammatical complexity. Nonnative speakers fi nd certain areas of grammar especially diffi cult to master. The reason is sim-ple: the grammatical mechanisms involved are indeed quite complicated. Unless you fully understand how these mechanisms work, you will never master the areas they govern. This book explains these mechanisms in much greater detail than most ESL textbooks attempt to do.

• Areas of unusual irregularity. Many grammatical options are controlled by particular words, often verbs. This book is full of lists that tell the reader which words control which speciﬁ c grammatical structures. For example, it is impossible to predict in general whether a particular verb will permit

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a gerund, an inﬁ nitive, or both as an object. The only way you can tell is to look at the lists provided to see which construction is allowable. No other book (outside specialized linguistic reference works) provides such exten-sive listings of idiosyncratic, word-controlled grammatical structures. • Areas in which native speakers routinely use special forms in

conver-sational English. If your only use of English is as a formal, written

lan-guage (as is the case for many nonnative speakers), and you don’t foresee any need to ever talk to a native speaker of English under ﬁ fty years old, then this area is not a concern for you.

For everybody else, however, this may well be the most difﬁ cult of the four areas. Unless you have had extensive direct contact with native speak-ers of English in informal situations, you simply have not had the oppor-tunity to acquire this type of English. It is not just a matter of contractions and rapid speech (though these will cause you plenty of problems); there are also well-established, predictable shifts in grammar that take place in casual conversation. Here’s an illustration:

In formal English, the standard passive is formed with the helping verb

be. For example:

We were interrupted.

In informal conversational English, most native speakers actually use the helping verb get instead of be. For example:

We got interrupted.

One of the key features of this book is the discussion of this kind of gram-matical substitution wherever it is signiﬁ cant. (This occurs surprisingly often.)

• Areas in which both native and nonnative speakers often make

mis-takes. As you become more like a native speaker, you are bound to start

making the same mistakes that native speakers do. For example, like native speakers, you will have problems distinguishing between restrictive and nonrestrictive adjective clauses in more complicated sentences. You will also have problems knowing when and how to use direct and indirect quo-tation. This book has extensive treatments of these predictable problem

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areas, far beyond what you would ever encounter in an ESL textbook (and most books for native speakers, for that matter).

This book is divided into three parts: Noun Phrases, Verb Phrases, and Sentences.

Part I, Noun Phrases: Noun phrases (nouns together with all their

modifi ers) are one of the fundamental building blocks of English. Noun phrases function as the subjects of sentences, the objects or complements of verbs, and the objects of prepositions. Part I addresses the various com-ponents that make up noun phrases. The fi rst four chapters describe nouns and noun modifi ers. The remaining three chapters discuss grammatical entities other than nouns that can also function as noun phrases. They are pronouns, gerund and infi nitive phrases, and noun clauses.

Part II, Verb Phrases: Part II is devoted to verb phrases, the second of

the two fundamental building blocks of English. Verb phrases are verbs together with all of the verbs’ complements (structures required by par-ticular verbs) and optional modifi ers. The fi rst three chapters deal spe-cifi cally with verb forms and verb tenses. The next three chapters deal with verb complements: nouns, adjectives, adverbs, and other grammatical structures that are required by particular verbs and predicate adjectives to form complete sentences. The fi nal two chapters deal with optional adverb modifi ers of verbs.

Part III, Sentences: In this section we will examine three topics that

affect entire sentences. These topics have been picked for two reasons: they are a major part of English grammar, but even more important, they pose certain difﬁ culties for nonnative speakers. Chapter 16 explores con-junctions: ways in which words, phrases, and entire independent clauses (sentences) are joined together. Chapter 17 focuses on how questions are formed. We conclude with a study of the passive in Chapter 18.

Note: Throughout the text, X signiﬁ es ungrammatical, ? signiﬁ es

ques-tionable, X? signiﬁ es borderline ungrammatical, and // signiﬁ es the sound of a letter.

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1

Noun Phrases

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3

Nouns

This chapter is divided into three sections. The ﬁ rst two sections describe in detail the two basic types of nouns: proper nouns and common nouns. Proper nouns are the names of speciﬁ c individuals; common nouns are the names of categories. The third section describes how we form possessive nouns.

Proper Nouns

Here are some examples of proper nouns:

Speciﬁ c persons: Dorothy, Miss Marple, Senator Smith, Uncle Fred Speciﬁ c places: Chicago, Jordan, Red Sea, Mount Olympus

Speciﬁ c things: New York Times, Microsoft Corporation

Capitalization of Proper Nouns

The most obvious feature of proper nouns is that they are capitalized. However, the conventions of capitalization are anything but simple. Here are some of the more important capitalization rules for persons, places, and things:

Capitalization of Persons. Capitalize all parts of the name, including

Jr. and Sr.:

Fred Smith Sr.

Martin Luther King Jr.

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When civil, military, religious, and professional titles precede a name and are used as part of the name, they are capitalized:

General Patton Pope Benedict XVI President Bush

However, if the title follows the name or is used to talk about a person, then the title is considered a common noun and is not capitalized. For example, compare the following:

Proper noun: Governor Schwarzenegger was reelected.

Common: Arnold Schwarzenegger, the governor of California,

was an actor.

Common: Arnold Schwarzenegger is the governor of California. The names of groups of people (linguistic, religious, racial) are nor-mally capitalized. For example:

Catholics Chinese Latinos

Capitalization of Places. Geographical terms (for example, street, river,

ocean) that are part of a name are also capitalized. For example:

Atlantic Ocean Great Barrier Reef

Deep Creek Lake Erie

Elm Street Mississippi River

Empire State Building Rocky Mountains

The names of distinct regions are usually capitalized. For example:

Mid Atlantic the South the Midwest Southeast Asia

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Popular names of places are usually capitalized (and not enclosed in quotation marks). For example:

Badlands (South Dakota) Eastern Shore (Chesapeake Bay) Bay Area (California) Fertile Crescent

Strangely enough, words derived from geographical names are generally

not capitalized. For example:

china (dishes) plaster of paris french fries venetian blinds

Capitalization of Things. The complete names of private and public organizations of all kinds are capitalized. For example:

Cheney High School Peace Corps

Green Bay Packers (football team) Xerox Corporation New York Philharmonic

The names of historical, political, and economic events are generally capitalized. For example:

Boston Tea Party New Deal Great Depression

The names of acts, treaties, laws, and government programs are gener-ally capitalized. For example:

Declaration of Independence Marshall Plan

Federal Housing Act Monroe Doctrine

The names of months and the days of the week are capitalized, but not the names of the seasons. For example:

fall summer February Wednesday spring winter

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Plural Forms of Proper Nouns

Plural proper nouns are uncommon, not because there is any grammatical restriction on them, but because we rarely need to use them. Here are some examples of plural proper nouns:

We have had three hot Julys in a row. The Smiths went to the beach this weekend.

There are two New Yorks, one for the rich and another for the rest of us.

Do not use an apostrophe for the plural of proper nouns. For example: X We have known the Johnson’s for a long time.

For the use of deﬁ nite articles with plural proper nouns, see Chapter 3.

Common Nouns

Common nouns refer to persons, places, things, and ideas (abstractions). Here are some examples:

Persons: student, women, reporter, father, employee Places: city, river, mountains, forest, sidewalk

Things: computer, book, water, elephant

Ideas: justice, love, friendship, honesty, respect

Common nouns are divided into two main categories: noncount and

count. Noncount nouns are nouns that cannot be used in the plural. The

term noncount refers to the fact that these nouns are literally not countable; that is, they cannot be used with number words. Most common nouns are count nouns; they can be counted and used in the plural. The distinction between noncount and count nouns is of particular importance in deter-mining which article to use. This topic is covered in detail in Chapter 3.

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Noncount Nouns

Many noncount nouns are generic names for categories of things. For example, the noncount noun luggage is a generic or collective term that refers to an entire category of objects that we use for carrying things while we travel, such as backpacks, briefcases, handbags, suitcases, and valises. The generic noun luggage is not countable, while all of the speciﬁ c nouns are countable:

Noncount: X one luggage, two luggages Count: one backpack, two backpacks one briefcase, two briefcases one handbag, two handbags one suitcase, two suitcases

Most noncount nouns fall into one of ten semantic categories:

Abstractions: beauty, charity, faith, hope, knowledge,

justice, luck, reliability

Academic ﬁ elds: anthropology, chemistry, economics,

literature, physics

Food: butter, cheese, chicken, pepper, rice, salt

Gerunds (-ing verb

forms used as nouns): hoping, running, smiling, winning

Languages: Arabic, Chinese, English, Russian, Spanish Liquids and gases: beer, blood, coffee, gasoline, water, air,

oxygen

Materials: cement, glass, gold, paper, plastic, silk,

wood, wool

Natural phenomena: electricity, gravity, matter, space

Sports and games: baseball, chess, football, poker, soccer,

tennis

Weather words: fog, pollution, rain, snow, wind

Many noncount nouns can be used as count nouns but with a predict-able shift in meaning—to convey something like “different kinds of.” Here are some examples:

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gasoline—noncount: The price of gasoline is outrageous. (liquid) gasoline—count: The station sells three gasolines. (different

grades of gasoline)

Spanish—noncount: I am learning Spanish. (language) Spanish—count: There are several Spanishes in America.

(different kinds of Spanish) cheese—noncount: I love cheese. (food)

cheese—count: The store sells a variety of cheeses. (different

kinds of cheese)

Some noncount nouns have count noun counterparts but with different meanings. Here are some examples:

iron—noncount: The chain is made of iron. (material)

iron—count: The hotel will provide irons. (electric appliances

for pressing clothes)

paper—noncount: Books are made of paper. (material)

paper—count: I left my papers on the desk. (documents)

chicken—noncount: Chicken is a heart-healthy meat. (food)

chicken—count: There were a dozen chickens in the yard. (living

animals)

coffee—noncount: Too much coffee makes me nervous. (liquid)

coffee—count: We would like two coffees, please. (cups or

servings of coffee)

Plural Forms of Count Nouns

The distinctive feature of count nouns is that they can be used in the plu-ral. Most nouns form their plural with -(e)s, but there are also a number of irregular plural forms. Most irregular plurals are either nouns of English

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origin that have retained older ways of forming the plural or Latin words

that have retained their Latin plurals. In addition, there are a small number of plural-only nouns, and ﬁ nally there is a difference between British and American English on whether collective nouns are singular or plural.

Regular Plurals. The regular plural is most often written as -s. For example:

Singular Plural

cat cats dog dogs llama llamas

If the regular plural is pronounced as a separate syllable, the regular plural is spelled -es. For example:

Singular Plural batch batches bench benches box boxes class classes wish wishes

There are two special spelling rules for regular plurals:

Words ending in a consonant + y. When a word ends in a consonant + y, the plural is formed by the following rule:

CHANGE THE Y TO I AND ADD -ES Singular Plural

baby babies family families lady ladies story stories

However, if the word ends in a vowel plus y, the preceding rule does not apply, because the letter y is does not represent a separate vowel. The y is part of the spelling of the vowel and therefore cannot be changed:

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Singular Plural

boy boys key keys subway subways

Words ending in a consonant + o. There are two spellings for words that end in a consonant + o. In one group, the plural is formed by adding -s in the normal way. In a second group, the plural is formed by adding -es. Unfortunately, there is no way to predict the group to which any particular word belongs. You simply have to look up each word ending in a consonant + o. Here are some examples of each group:

-s Plurals -es Plurals

Singular Plural Singular Plural

ego egos hero heroes

kilo kilos potato potatoes

memo memos tomato tomatoes

zero zeros volcano volcanoes

Irregular Plurals of English Origin. Seven words form their plural by a vowel change alone:

Singular Plural

foot feet (See note.) goose geese louse lice man men mouse mice tooth teeth woman women

Note: In addition to the usual plural form feet, the noun foot has a second

plural form, foot, when we use the word to refer to length or measurement. For example:

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I bought a six-foot ladder. He is six foot three inches tall.

Some words ending in f form their plurals by changing the f to v and adding -es. Here are the most common words that follow this pattern:

Singular Plural half halves knife knives leaf leaves life lives loaf loaves

self selves (also the plural themselves) thief thieves

wolf wolves

Some words have a plural form that is identical to their singular form. Most of these words refer to animals or ﬁ sh. For example:

Singular Plural

a cod two cod

a deer two deer

a ﬁ sh two ﬁ sh

a sheep two sheep

a shrimp two shrimp

a trout two trout

Since the singular and plural forms of these nouns are identical, the actual number of the noun can be determined only by subject-verb agree-ment or by the use of an indeﬁ nite article. For example:

Singular: The deer was standing in the middle of the road. Plural: The deer were moving across the ﬁ eld.

Singular: I saw a deer in the backyard. Plural: I saw some deer in the backyard.

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If one of these words is used as an object with a deﬁ nite article, then the number is inherently ambiguous. For example:

Look at the deer! (one deer or many deer?) Two words retain the old plural ending -en:

Singular Plural

child children ox oxen

Irregular Plurals of Latin Origin. English uses thousands of words of Latin origin. In formal or scientiﬁ c writing, the original Latin forms of the plural are often used. While the irregularity of Latin grammar is almost beyond belief, there are two patterns that are regular enough to merit our attention:

Plurals of Latin words ending in -us. The plurals of these words typically end in -i. For example:

Singular Plural alumnus alumni focus foci locus loci stimulus stimuli syllabus syllabi

Plurals of Latin words ending in -um. The plurals of these words typi-cally end in -a. For example:

Singular Plural

addendum addenda curriculum curricula datum data (See note.) memorandum memoranda spectrum spectra stratum strata

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Note: Data is often used as a kind of collective singular except in formal

scientiﬁ c papers. For example:

The data is very clear in this matter.

Plural-Only Nouns. Some plural nouns have no corresponding singular form at all or else have a singular form that differs substantially from the meaning of the plural.

One group of plural-only nouns refers to tools or articles of clothing that have two equal parts joined together:

Tools: bellows, binoculars, (eye)glasses, forceps, pincers, scissors, sheers, spectacles, tongs, tweezers

Clothing: braces, briefs, ﬂ annels, jeans, pants, pajamas, shorts, slacks, suspenders, tights, tops, trousers, trunks Here are some other plural-only nouns with idiomatic meanings:

accommodations (living arrangements) funds (money)

arms (weapons) guts (courage)

brains (intellect) looks (appearance)

communications (means of communication) manners (behavior) credentials (records or documents) pains (trouble, effort)

customs (duty) wits (intelligence)

A few plural-only nouns have no plural marking: cattle, livestock, poultry,

people, police. Here are some examples with the plural verb underlined:

The police are investigating the crime.

People were beginning to talk.

Collective Nouns

Collective nouns refer to groups of people either individually or collec-tively. Here are some examples:

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audience class committee government team

Logically, we can think of a team, for example, as being either a unit (sin-gular) or a group of individuals (plural). In American English, collective nouns are almost always treated as singular nouns; in British English, col-lective nouns are almost always treated as plural nouns. For example, com-pare the following sentences with the verbs underlined:

American: The team is on the ﬁ eld. British: The team are on the ﬁ eld.

American: The American government has announced a new policy. British: Her Majesty’s government have announced a new policy.

Possessive Forms of Nouns

Modern English is a hybrid of two languages: Old English (Anglo-Saxon) and French. Reﬂ ecting this mixed heritage, Modern English has two ways of forming the possessive: the Old English way, which uses an inﬂ ectional

ending ( ’s and s’), and an of possessive that is a kind of loan-translation of

the French way of forming the possessive. Here is an example of each:

Inﬂ ectional possessive: Shakespeare’s plays

Of possessive: the plays of Shakespeare

Inﬂ ectional Possessives

It is essentially a historical accident that the regular plural and the pos-sessive inﬂ ections are pronounced exactly alike, with the same sibilant sounds. Up until the sixteenth century, the plural and the possessives were also spelled alike: -s. During the sixteenth century, however, the apostro-phe began to be used for the possessive ending to distinguish it from the plural ending. For example:

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Plural Possessive

boys boy’s girls girl’s friends friend’s

The use of the apostrophe after the -s to signal the possessive use of a plu-ral noun did not become widely accepted until the nineteenth century:

Plural Plural Possessive

boys boys’ girls girls’ friends friends’

While it is correct to call -s’ the “plural possessive,” it is a mistake to think of the -’s as the “singular possessive.” The problem with this deﬁ ni-tion arises with the possessive forms of irregular nouns that become plural by changing their vowel rather than by adding a plural -s. For example:

Singular Plural

Noun Possessive Noun Possessive

man man’s men men’s woman woman’s women women’s

child child’s children children’s

As you can see, -’s is used with these plural possessive nouns, not -s’. Using the -s’ with these nouns would mean (incorrectly, of course) that the /s/ is what makes these nouns plural. What actually makes them plural is the change in their vowels.

A much better way to think of plurals and possessive is as follows:

Possessive Both Plural

Plural Only Only and Possessive

-s -’s -s’

This analysis will help ensure that you will always use the right form. Mercifully, the spelling of the possessive forms is regular (though there are a few exceptions for proper nouns, which are discussed later in this

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section). Here are some examples using words that form their plurals in different ways.

WORDS ENDING IN A CONSONANT + Y

baby baby’s babies babies’

family family’s families families’

WORDS ENDING IN O

ego ego’s egos egos’

memo memo’s memos memos’

hero hero’s heroes heroes’

volcano volcano’s volcanoes volcanoes’

Notice that in the last two examples, the singular possessive and the plural forms are spelled differently.

WORDS ENDING IN F

thief thief’s thieves thieves’

wolf wolf’s wolves wolves’

The possessives of some proper nouns ending in a sibilant sound are often spelled with just an apostrophe. For example:

In Jesus’ name (this spelling is conventional)

Ramses’ tomb

Charles Dickens’ novels

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The Meaning of the Inﬂ ectional Possessive. As its name would suggest, the possessive is most commonly used to show ownership or possession. For example:

Ralph’s car

My family’s house

However, the possessive is used in many other meanings, the two most important being relationships and measurement:

Relationships

Ralph’s neighbor (Ralph does not own his neighbor.)

My family’s doctor (The family does not own the doctor.)

Measurement

Time: an hour’s delay; a week’s postponement; two years’ duration Value: the euro’s value; the dollar’s decline; ﬁ ve dollars’ worth

Of Possessive

While the inﬂ ectional possessive and the of possessive mean the same thing, they are not always interchangeable. For example:

Inﬂ ectional possessive: Sarah’s taxi

Of possessive: X the taxi of Sarah

Inﬂ ectional possessive: X a soup’s bowl Of possessive: a bowl of soup

Let us use the term possessive noun to refer to both (a) nouns that can have inﬂ ectional possessive ’s or s’, and (b) nouns that follow of. In the ﬁ rst of the preceding examples, the possessive noun would be Sarah. In the second example, the possessive noun would be soup.

Here is a general rule that will help you decide which form of the pos-sessive noun to use:

If the possessive noun is animate, use the inﬂ ectional possessive. If the possessive noun is inanimate, use the of possessive.

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Here are some examples with animate possessive nouns:

Inﬂ ectional Of Possessive

the gentleman’s hat X?the hat of the gentleman

the cat’s dish X the dish of the cat

our family’s house X the house of our family

Here are some examples with inanimate possessive nouns: Of Possessive Inﬂ ectional

a map of Australia X? Australia’s map a glass of water X water’s glass the back of the room X the room’s back

As with most broad generalizations, the rule about possessives is overly black-and-white. The ﬁ rst part, which says that animate nouns require the inﬂ ectional possessive, does seem to hold true. The real problem is with the second part, which says that inanimate nouns use only the of possessive.

We can (but do not have to) use the inﬂ ectional possessive with the fol-lowing types of inanimate nouns:

Inanimate possessive nouns that are a product of human creation. For example:

the ecomony’s growth the growth of the economy the performance’s success the success of the performance

the game’s rules the rules of the game

Natural phenomena. For example:

the storm’s damage the damage of the storm the tide’s surge the surge of the tide

the sun’s glare the glare of the sun

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Possessive nouns that express location or time. For example:

the city’s population the population of the city the river’s bank the bank of the river this year’s proﬁ ts the proﬁ ts of this year

today’s lesson the lesson of today

When the inﬂ ectional and of possessive forms are both grammatical, there are still stylistic differences between them.

In general, the inﬂ ectional forms are somewhat less formal, and the

of possessive forms are more formal. For example, if you were writing a

report, you would probably choose the population of the city rather than

the city’s population as the title of a section.

Everything else being equal, the inﬂ ectional possessive implies shared or previous knowledge, while the of possessive does not. For example, compare the following:

Inﬂ ectional: We met Jim’s friend last night.

Of possessive: We met a friend of Jim’s last night.

The inﬂ ectional sentence implies that the listener already knows who Jim’s friend is. The of possessive sentence implies that the listener is not expected to know who Jim’s friend is.

Double Possessive

We use a special form of the possessive when the possessive noun is a per-sonal pronoun or an animate noun. This construction is sometimes called a double possessive or double genitive. The pronoun or animate noun is itself used in the possessive form.

If the possessive is a pronoun, the pronoun must be in the possessive pronoun form (as opposed to the possessive adjective form). For example, compare the following possessive nouns:

In object form: X He is a friend of me. In possessive adjective form: X He is a friend of my. In possessive pronoun form: He is a friend of mine.

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If the possessive noun is an animate noun (most commonly a proper noun), we have the option of using the possessive form or not. For example:

He is a friend of Sam. He is a friend of Sam’s.

He was a contemporary of Mozart. He was a contemporary of Mozart’s. It is a policy of the company. It is a policy of the company’s.

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21

Adjectives

The term adjective can be used to refer to any word that modifi es a noun. In this book, however, we divide all noun modifi ers into three groups and treat each in a separate chapter: “true” adjectives in this chapter, deter-miners (all pre-adjective noun modifi ers) in Chapter 3, and post-noun modifi ers in Chapter 4.

In this chapter we will discuss three aspects of adjectives: their com-parative and superlative forms, how adjectives can be derived from the present and past participle forms of verbs, and the sequence and punctua-tion of multiple adjectives.

“True” adjectives are noun modiﬁ ers that have the following four characteristics:

1. They immediately precede the nouns they modify (and thus follow all other pre-noun modiﬁ ers).

2. They have comparative and superlative forms.

3. They can be used as predicate adjectives. 4. They are an “open class.”

To better understand the difference between adjectives (as defi ned here) and other types of pre-noun modifi ers, look at the following sentence with all noun modifi ers in italics:

All the brave soldiers deserve medals.

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1. The adjective brave immediately precedes the noun soldiers. The

other two noun modiﬁ ers cannot be placed in between the adjective

brave and the noun soldiers:

X All brave the soldiers deserve medals. X The brave all soldiers deserve medals. 2. Only brave has comparative and superlative forms:

Comparative: braver Superlative: bravest

3. Only brave can be used as a predicate adjective:

All those soldiers are brave. X All brave soldiers are the. X? The brave soldiers are all.

The last example is marginally grammatical, but only if all is used as an indeﬁ nite pronoun meaning “everything.”

4. Finally, of all the pre-noun modiﬁ ers, only adjectives are an “open” class. That is, we can create new adjectives. For example, in computer jargon, lossy (rhymes with bossy) is an adjective that describes programs that degrade data when the program is run, as in the following sentences:

That is a very lossy program. (modifying adjective) This program is lossier than that program. (comparative

adjective)

His company’s program is lossy. (predicate adjective)

Articles and all other pre-adjective noun modiﬁ ers are “closed” classes. That is, there have not been any new articles or other pre-adjective modiﬁ ers added to English in hundreds of years (nor are there likely to be any new ones for hundreds of years to come).

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Comparative and Superlative Forms of Adjectives

One-syllable adjectives tend to use the Old English way of forming com-paratives and superlatives—with -er and -est. Three-syllable adjectives always use a translated version of the French way of forming the compara-tive and superlacompara-tive—with more and most. Here are some examples:

One Syllable Three Syllables

brave, braver, bravest ambitious, more ambitious, most ambitious

calm, calmer, calmest beautiful, more beautiful, most beautiful nice, nicer, nicest generous, more generous, most generous smart, smarter, smartest impatient, more impatient, most

impatient

Two-syllable adjectives pose a problem. Some two-syllable adjectives use the -er/-est pattern, while other two-syllable adjectives use the more/

most pattern. Some, such as polite, can even be used in either pattern:

Jane is politer than Mary. Jane is the politest person in her class. Jane is more polite than Mary. Jane is the most polite person in her

class.

Here are some useful generalizations about which pattern to use.

-er /-est

Two-syllable adjectives that end in an unstressed vowel sound tend to use the -er /-est pattern. Two-syllable adjectives ending in le and y are especially common. For example:

le: able, feeble, gentle, noble, simple

y: dopy, early, easy, happy, funny, noisy, wealthy, pretty, tacky Adjective Comparative Superlative

simple simpler simplest

early earlier earliest happy happier happiest

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Notice that the spelling of comparative and superlative forms of adjectives that end in y follow a rule similar to the rule that governs the plural form of nouns that end in y: change the y to i and add -er or -est.

More/Most

Two-syllable adjectives that are stressed on the second syllable tend to use the more/most pattern. For example:

Adjective Comparative Superlative

alert more alert most alert

bizarre more bizarre most bizarre

precise more precise most precise

secure more secure most secure

Irregular Comparative and Superlative Forms

A few irregular comparatives and superlatives survive from older forms of English:

bad worse worst good better best

The adjective far is peculiar in that it has two sets of comparative and superlative forms with slightly different meanings:

far farther farthest

far further furthest

We use farther and farthest for distance in space. For example: Please take the farthest seat.

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We use further and furthest for all other kinds of sequences or progressions. For example:

Are there any further questions?

Adjectives Derived from Present and Past Participles

Many adjectives are derived from the present-participle and the

past-participle forms of verbs (see Chapter 8 for detailed descriptions of

parti-ciples). For example:

Present Participle Past Participle

amusing amused charming charmed discouraging discouraged failing failed tempting tempted

The process of turning a participle verb form into an adjective is com-mon in languages around the world. What is unusual about English is that there are two different participle forms that can be turned into adjec-tives. Moreover, the two different participle forms often have different, even contradictory, meanings. The two participle forms are particularly difﬁ cult for nonnative speakers of English whose native language has only one form of participle. To see how different the two forms can be, compare the following sentences:

Present participle: He is a boring teacher. Past participle: He is a bored teacher.

In the ﬁ rst sentence, the present participle means that the teacher bores his students. In the second sentence, the past participle means that the students bore the teacher—exactly the opposite meaning of the present participle.

Here is a way to remember which form of the participle to use. Parti-ciples used as adjectives still preserve many of their underlying verb

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func-tions. The noun being modiﬁ ed by the participle is either the subject of that underlying verb or the object of that underlying verb.

If the noun being modiﬁ ed is the underlying subject—that is, the noun is doing the action of the participle—then use the -ing present-participle form. For example, in the phrase the boring teacher, the teacher is the one doing the boring.

If the noun being modiﬁ ed is the underlying object—that is, the noun is the recipient of the action of the participle—then use the past-participle form. For example, in the phrase the bored teacher, the teacher is the recipi-ent of the action of the verb.

Here are some more examples of both types of participles, using the same verbs as the source for the two participles:

Present Participle Past Participle

an amusing proposal an amused audience

(the proposal amuses) (something amused the audience) the blistering sun his blistered skin

(the sun blisters) (something blistered his skin) an interesting idea an interested listener

(the idea interests) (something interested the listener)

an exhausting test the exhausted workers

(the test exhausts) (something exhausted the workers)

Sequence and Punctuation of Multiple Adjectives

English often uses two or three (rarely more) adjectives to modify the same noun. When this occurs, there is a deﬁ nite left-to-right sequence of the adjectives based on their meaning. For example, we can say:

big old house

but not

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We can say:

old blue house

but not

X blue old house

From these two examples, we can deduce that these three adjectives must be used in this relative left-to-right sequence:

big old blue house

Generalizing from these examples to whole categories of adjectives, we can make the following rule about order of adjectives: size, age, and color. For example:

Size Age Color Noun

big old blue house

small new paisley shirt

tiny ancient black car

huge brand-new shiny TV

We can identify as many as seven classes of adjectives based on their left-to-right sequence:

Origin/

Opinion Size Shape Condition Age Color Material Noun

pretty upright modern French clock little broken red doll amusing new Spanish director disgusting old black towel big remodeled brick mansion attractive oval pottery bowl

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When adjectives are used in their normal left-to-right sequence as shown here, they are not separated by commas. However, when we use two or more adjectives from the same class, then we must separate them by com-mas. By far the most common use of multiple adjectives is in the category of opinion. For example:

a charming, handsome actor an amusing, refreshing comedy his cruel, demeaning comments

the confusing, repetitive, overblown performance

There are two other characteristics of multiple adjectives from the same class: they can be used in any order, and we can also separate them by and, neither of which is possible with adjectives from different classes. Here are some examples:

an amusing, refreshing comedy an amusing and refreshing comedy a refreshing, amusing comedy a refreshing and amusing comedy his cruel, demeaning comments his cruel and demeaning comments his demeaning, cruel comments his demeaning and cruel comments

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29

Determiners

The term determiner refers collectively to all classes of noun modiﬁ -ers that precede adjectives. In this chapter we examine four of the most important types of determiners: articles, possessives, demonstratives, and quantiﬁ ers. Here is an example of each type of determiner:

Did you ever fi nd the books? (article) Did you ever fi nd your books? (possessive) Did you ever fi nd those books? (demonstrative) Did you ever fi nd any books? (quantifi er)

With the exception of a few quantiﬁ ers, the four types of determiners are mutually exclusive. That is, we cannot combine multiple determiners to modify a single noun. For example:

X Did you ever ﬁ nd the your books? X Did you ever ﬁ nd those any books?

Articles

There are two types of articles: the deﬁ nite article, the, and the indeﬁ nite

articles, a/an and some.

The Deﬁ nite Article

The deﬁ nite article, the, is normally unstressed. It is pronounced to rhyme with duh before words beginning with a consonant sound. It is pronounced to rhyme with see before words beginning with a vowel sound.

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Using the Deﬁ nite Article with Common Nouns. The deﬁ nite article,

the, can be used with all types of common nouns—with singular and

plu-ral count nouns and with noncount nouns. (Briefl y, count nouns have singular and plural forms. Noncount nouns cannot be used with number words and have no plural forms. Noncount nouns are described in some detail in Chapter 1. They are also discussed in this chapter in reference to indefi nite articles.) Here are some examples of the defi nite article with singular count nouns, plural count nouns, and noncount nouns:

Singular Plural Noncount Count Nouns Count Nouns Nouns

the car the cars the trafﬁ c

the ﬁ ght the ﬁ ghts the violence

the orange the oranges the fruit

the suitcase the suitcases the luggage

The only problem with the defi nite article is knowing when to use it. Use the defi nite article if both of the following statements about the noun being modifi ed are true (especially the second):

1. You have a speciﬁ c person, place, thing, or idea in mind, and 2. You can reasonably assume that the listener or reader will know

which speciﬁ c person, place, thing, or idea you mean.

In practice, there are four situations that dictate the use of the deﬁ nite article:

1. Previous mention. Use the deﬁ nite article if you have already

introduced the noun. For example:

I just got a new camera. The camera has an image-stabilization feature.

The deﬁ nite article is used in the second sentence because the noun

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reason-ably assume that the listener or reader will know which camera we are talking about.

2. Defi ned by modifi ers. Even if the noun has not been previously mentioned, use the defi nite article if the noun is followed by modifi ers that serve to uniquely identify it. Here are two examples:

Did you see the movie that is showing at the Roxie?

The noun movie is uniquely deﬁ ned by the modiﬁ er that is showing

at the Roxie.

The assignment that I just got in calculus is a real killer.

The noun assignment is uniquely deﬁ ned by the modiﬁ er that I just

got in calculus.

3. Normal expectations. Use the deﬁ nite article if the noun is something that we can reasonably expect from the context of the sentence even if there has been no previous mention of the noun. This important use of the deﬁ nite article is often not understood by nonnative speakers. Here are several examples:

I opened a book and checked the index. (We expect books to have indexes.)

The screen on my new computer is ﬂ ickering. (We expect

com-puters to have screens.)

A storm far out to sea was making the waves higher than normal. (We expect the sea to have waves.)

I love my new car, but the brakes are pretty squeaky. (We expect cars to have brakes.)

English has an unexpected usage of the deﬁ nite article with the names of places that you expect to ﬁ nd in a particular environment. Here are some examples grouped by environment:

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At a university

I have to go to the bookstore.

the dean’s ofﬁ ce the library

the registrar’s ofﬁ ce

We expect to ﬁ nd these places at a university. In a city

I have to go to the post office

the bank the airport the drugstore

We expect to ﬁ nd these places in a city. On a ranch or farm

I have to go to the barn

the stables the chicken coop

the vegetable garden

We expect to ﬁ nd these places on a ranch or farm.

What is so odd about this use of the defi nite article is that it seems to violate the second rule that governs the use of the defi nite article: you can reasonably assume that the listener or reader knows which specifi c noun you have in mind. For example, consider the following sentence:

I’ll be a few minutes late; I have to get to the bank.

Here the defi nite article is used even though the speaker is aware that the listener could not possibly know which bank the speaker is talking about. Nevertheless, this usage of the defi nite article with expected places is fi rmly established.

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The meaning would change slightly if the speaker of the example sentence were instead to use the indeﬁ nite article:

I’ll be a few minutes late; I have to get to a bank.

This sentence could have the implication that the speaker does not have any bank location in mind either. Perhaps the speaker is from out of town.

4. Uniqueness. Use the deﬁ nite article with nouns that everybody already knows about. For example:

The sun was just dropping below the horizon.

Unless you are writing a science-ﬁ ction novel, there is only one sun and only one horizon. Therefore, the deﬁ nite article is appropriate.

Using the Deﬁ nite Article with Proper Nouns. We do not normally associate the deﬁ nite article with proper nouns, but it is used in a limited way with names of people and places.

People. Typically, we do not use the deﬁ nite article with the names of individual people unless there is a post-noun modiﬁ er that provides some special information about that person. For example, compare the follow-ing sentences:

John went on vacation last week.

The John who works in my office went on vacation last week.

The use of the post-noun modifi er who works in my offi ce tells us which of two or more people named John the speaker is talking about. In this case, the use of the defi nite article becomes obligatory. There is a similar use of the indefi nite article with proper nouns (see the following section).

One of the few instances in which we regularly use the deﬁ nite article with names is for titles—both royal titles and organizational titles. For example:

Royal titles: the Duke of York, the Prince of Wales, the

prime minister

Organizational titles: the president, the treasurer, the CEO, the

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Places. By far the most common use of the with proper nouns is for place names. Plural place names are typically preceded by the. Two especially common categories are the names of mountain ranges and island chains. For example:

Mountain ranges: the Alps, the Andes, the Himalayas, the Rockies Island chains: the Aleutians, the Azores, the Philippines, the

Shetlands

The use of the with singular place names is much more inconsistent. Here are some categories of singular place names that are typically used with the deﬁ nite article:

Bodies of water

Rivers: the Columbia, the Mississippi, the Potomac, the

Thames

Seas and oceans: the Atlantic, the Bay of Bengal, the Gulf of

California

Canals: the Erie Canal, the Hood Canal, the Panama

Canal

Public facilities, monuments, buildings, and the like (especially if well known)

Hotels: the Days Inn, the Marriott, the Ritz Theaters: the Apollo, the Globe, the Met, the Roxie Bridges: the Brooklyn Bridge, the Golden Gate Bridge Monuments: the Lincoln Memorial, the Tomb of the Unknown

Soldier

Libraries: the British Museum, the Getty, the Library of

Congress

The Indeﬁ nite Articles

Unlike the defi nite article, which can be used with all types and numbers of common nouns, the use of the indefi nite articles, a/an and some, is determined by the nature of the common noun being modifi ed—whether

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the noun is a singular countable noun, a plural countable noun, or a non-count noun.

Using a/an and Some with Countable Nouns. We use the indefi nite article a/an when we fi rst mention a singular countable noun. The use of a/an signals that the writer or speaker does not expect the audience to have any prior knowledge of the noun being modifi ed—just the reverse of the function of the defi nite article, the. Notice the shift in articles in the following sentence:

I have a response, but I’m not sure that it is the response you want to hear.

The fi rst time the noun response is mentioned, it is used with the indefi -nite article a. After the fi rst mention, all subsequent mentions of the noun

response are used with the.

The indeﬁ nite article a has a second form, an, which is used before vowels; for example: a banana but an apple. The rule governing the use of an pertains to vowel pronunciation, not vowel spelling. For example, the following words use a where the spelling would seem to require an, because the pronunciation of the nouns actually begins with a /y/ conso-nant sound:

a unicorn a uniform

a unit a usage

Both a and an are normally unstressed. A is pronounced to rhyme with

duh. An is pronounced to rhyme with bun.

The reason for the two forms a and an is historical. Both a and an come from the word one. Over the years, the pronunciation of one used as a noun modiﬁ er (as opposed to the use of one as number) became contracted: the

n in one was preserved before words beginning with vowels and lost before

words beginning with a consonant sound. So, today, we have the two forms of the indeﬁ nite article: a and an.

The origin of the indeﬁ nite article from the number one deeply affects the way the word is used in modern English. To begin with, as with the

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number one, a/an is inherently singular. Thus, we cannot use a/an to mod-ify plural nouns:

X a books X an oranges

What, then, do we use as an indefi nite article for plural nouns, since a/an is unavailable? The answer is some. We need to think of some as function-ing as the plural indefi nite article, the plural counterpoint of the sfunction-ingular indefi nite article a/an. Notice that the shift from some to the in the follow-ing sentence is exactly like the shift from a to the in the previous example:

I have some responses, but I am not sure that they are the responses you want to hear.

When used as an indeﬁ nite article, some is always unstressed. We need to distinguish this use of some from the completely unrelated use of some as a word conveying emphasis in informal spoken language. For example:

That was some party last night!

The stressed some is used here to emphasize the unique nature of last night’s party. (The use of stressed some does not tell us whether the party was good or bad. The party could have been either, but in any case, it was memorable.)

Using Some with Noncount Nouns. Noncount nouns represent a unique category of nouns. They are called “noncount” because they cannot be used with number words. For example:

X one bacon X two bacons

X one electricity X two electricities

X one luck X two lucks

X one luggage X two luggages

X one violence X two violences

As you can see from these examples, another important feature of non-count nouns is that they cannot be used in the plural.

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When we try to use the singular indeﬁ nite article a/an with a singular noncount noun, we run into a problem. As noted, the indeﬁ nite article

a/an is derived from the word one. Since one is a number word, a/an is also

going to be incompatible with noncount nouns:

X a bacon X an electricity

X a luck X a luggage

X a violence

What, then, do we use as the indefi nite article for noncount nouns? The answer again is unstressed some. Here are examples of some used as an indefi nite article for the same fi ve noncount nouns previously listed:

I would like some bacon, please.

After the storm, there was still some electricity in a few neighborhoods.

After many disappointments, we have ﬁ nally had some luck. Did you know that there is some luggage stacked in the hall? Unfortunately, there was some violence associated with the recent

rioting.

Using the Zero Article for Generalizations. We expect common nouns to be modifi ed by some kind of article or other pre-adjective modifi er. There is one important exception: using plural nouns or noncount nouns without any article or other pre-adjective modifi er (also called a zero arti-cle), to signal that we are making a generalization about the noun. For example, compare the impact of the presence or absence of some on the meaning of the plural noun bananas in the following two sentences (using ∅ to indicate a zero article):

Generalization: ∅ Bananas are high in potassium.

Nongeneralization: There are some bananas on the shelf in the

kitchen.

In the ﬁ rst sentence, the absence of any article (that is, a zero article) tells us that the sentence is making a generalization about all bananas. That is, bananas, as a category of fruit, are high in potassium. In the second

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sentence, the use of the expected some tells us that this is an ordinary sen-tence about a bunch of actual bananas. The sensen-tence is not a generalization about all the bananas in the world.

Here is a similar example using the noncount noun luggage:

Generalization: ∅ Luggage must be checked before boarding

the aircraft.

Nongeneralization: We saw some luggage stacked out in the hall.

The zero article in the ﬁ rst sentence tells us that the sentence is a general-ization about luggage as an entire category of objects. The use of some in the second sentence tells us that the sentence is about several actual pieces of luggage.

With plural count nouns and noncount nouns, it is sometimes hard to tell whether they are being used to make a generalization. There are two clues in the nature of the sentence that help identify when a generaliza-tion is intended: the use of the present tense and the use of adverbs of frequency.

Present-tense forms. Sentences that make generalizations are usually in the present-tense form—either the simple present, the present progressive, or the present perfect. In the following examples, the noun being used to make a generalization is underlined, and the present-tense verb is in italics:

Present: Textbooks are really expensive.

Present progressive: Textbooks are being priced out of students’

reach.

Present perfect: Textbooks have become too expensive.

Adverbs of frequency. Sentences that make generalizations often contain adverbs of frequency (for example, always, often, generally, frequently,

usu-ally). In the following sentences, the noun being used to make a

generaliza-tion is underlined, and the adverb of frequency is in italics: Japanese movies often have ghosts in them.

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Generally, political speeches are nothing but empty platitudes.

Elections are rarely fair and never free.

The most common error nonnative speakers make with nouns that are generalizations is to modify the noun with some because the speaker feels that every noun must have an article. For example:

X The barn is always full of some mice.

The speaker is not talking about speciﬁ c, actual individual mice. The speaker is making a generalization about the kind of creatures found in the barn.

The use of the present tense and the adverb of frequency always signals that this sentence is making a generalization about what is happening in the barn—it is being overrun with mice. Therefore, the sentence is incom-patible with the use of some to modify mice. The inappropriate use of some makes the sentence say something very strange:

X? Our barn is always full of one kind of mice (but not other kinds of mice).

The correct version of the sentence would use the noun mice without modiﬁ ers:

Our barn is always full of mice.

We can summarize the use of the indeﬁ nite articles, a/an and some, and the zero article through the following diagram:

INDEFINITE ARTICLE

Countable Nouns Noncount Nouns

Singular Plural

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Using the Indefi nite Article with Proper Nouns. We can use the indefi -nite article a/an with proper nouns, but only in special circumstances. One use (normally in spoken language) is to signal that the speaker is aware that the listener does not know which person the speaker is talking about. For example, here is what a receptionist might say to a fellow company employee on the offi ce phone:

John, there is a Mr. Smith here to see you.

The receptionist uses the indeﬁ nite article to avoid saying this: John, Mr. Smith is here to see you.

This second sentence would imply that John should know who Mr. Smith is. The use of the indeﬁ nite article is a warning to John that Mr. Smith is a stranger (as far as the receptionist knows).

A second use is to signal the reader or listener that the proper noun is being used as a kind of temporary common noun. For example:

There is a New York that tourists never see.

There are two New Yorks: a New York for tourists and a New York for nontourists. There is a similar use of the deﬁ nite article with proper nouns (discussed earlier in the chapter).

Possessives

There are two types of possessives that function as noun modiﬁ ers:

pos-sessive nouns and pospos-sessive pronouns.

Possessive Nouns

The formation of possessive nouns is treated in detail in Chapter 1. It is important to realize that a possessive noun is not just the noun by itself but also all the words that modify that possessive noun, taken as a unit. Here is an example:

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My father’s sister was born in India.

Think of the phrase my father as being a single unit. Inside that unit, my modiﬁ es father. My cannot jump outside its own phrase and modify sister. The sister who was born in India is my father’s sister, not my sister.

Possessive Pronouns

The term possessive pronoun is misleading, because there are actually two possessive forms for each pronoun. One form functions as an adjective, and the other functions as a true pronoun. To see the difference, compare the two possessive pronouns my (adjective) and mine (pronoun):

Adjective function: That is my book. Pronoun function: That book is mine.

The two forms are not interchangeable: X That is mine book.

X That book is my.

There is no standard terminology for distinguishing between the two different possessive pronoun functions. In this book we will refer to posses-sive pronouns functioning as adjectives as adjectival possesposses-sive pronouns. We will call possessive pronouns functioning as pronouns pronominal

possessive pronouns. Here is a complete list of both types of possessive

pronouns:

SINGULAR

Adjectival Pronominal

Possessive Pronouns Possessive Pronouns

First person: my (book) (that book is) mine

Second person: your (book) (that book is) yours

Third person: his (book) (that book is) his

her (book) (that book is) hers

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PLURAL

Adjectival Pronominal

Possessive Pronouns Possessive Pronouns

First person: our (book) (that book is) ours

Second person: your (book) (that book is) yours

Third person: their (book) (that book is) theirs

Notice that the possessive pronoun form his is used for both adjectival and pronominal functions. For example:

Adjectival possessive pronoun: That is his book.

Pronominal possessive pronoun: That book is his.

Demonstratives

There are four demonstratives: this, that, these, and those. As with posses-sive pronouns, the demonstratives can be used either as adjectives or as pronouns. Here is an example of this used both ways:

Adjective: I really liked this book.

Pronoun: I really liked this.

In this section we are concerned only with the use of demonstratives as adjectives.

This and that are singular; these and those are plural. For example:

Singular Plural

Do you like this hat? Do you like these hats? Do you like that hat? Do you like those hats?

The difference between this/these on the one hand and that/those on the other is much more complicated. Generally speaking, this and these have a sense of “closeness,” and that and those have a sense of “distance.” The “closeness”/“distance” distinction can be either in space or in time. Here are some examples of each type:

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Space

This house (the closer of two houses) has a blue roof. That house (the more distant of two houses) has a red roof.

I took these pictures (the closer ones), but not those pictures (the more distant ones).

Time

I was able to ﬁ nish the project this week because I had more time than I did that week (a week at some more distant time in the past). Did you like these movies (the ones that we just saw) better than those

movies (the ones we saw earlier)?

In informal conversation, this and these can be used to introduce a new topic. For example:

There was this guy at the party last night . . .

Here the use of this signals two things to the listener: that the speaker has a speciﬁ c person in mind but is aware that the listener does not know yet who the speaker is talking about, and that the speaker is introducing this person as a new topic of conversation. Accordingly, we would expect the speaker to elaborate on what was so interesting about that person.

Here is a similar sentence with these: Ralph’s boss said that he had these concerns.

Again, the use of these signals that Ralph’s boss has speciﬁ c concerns in mind, and that the concerns have now been introduced as a new topic of conversation.

Quantiﬁ ers

The term quantifi er refers to a number of noun modifi ers that express amount or degree. This section focuses only on the quantifi ers that pose problems for nonnative and native speakers alike.

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Contents

Noun Phrases

Nouns

Proper Nouns

Capitalization of Proper Nouns

Plural Forms of Proper Nouns

Common Nouns

Noncount Nouns

Plural Forms of Count Nouns

Collective Nouns

Possessive Forms of Nouns

Inﬂ ectional Possessives

Of Possessive

Double Possessive

Adjectives

Comparative and Superlative Forms of Adjectives

-er /-est

More/Most

Irregular Comparative and Superlative Forms

Adjectives Derived from Present and Past Participles

Sequence and Punctuation of Multiple Adjectives

Determiners

Articles

The Deﬁ nite Article

The Indeﬁ nite Articles

Possessives

Possessive Nouns

Possessive Pronouns

Demonstratives

Quantiﬁ ers